Friday, July 31, 2009

Mid Summer Report

We are halfway through our ten weeks of summer. Time to step back and enjoy (or at least assess) the view. If for no other reason than to remind myself next spring about what went well or not this year.

Last year it was a very mixed report at the halfway mark and I know I was too embarrassed to admit how very very difficult some days were. I graded it a generous C+. I think we should have all been put on academic probation.

This was the driving force behind the "summer of camps" that we are having in 2009. Any financial restraint or fondness for lazy days (and I do love lazy) went out the window in order to keep the J Boy engaged.

We spent a lot of time talking about what activities to schedule and when. While this is always a full blown obsession for me, even Husband saw the merit of appropriately timed events.

We started the summer with 4 straight weeks of activities. Week 1 of course was a big hit. Not only did the kids love bike camp, behaviourally we had a great week.

Week 2 was a bit more dicey. Jackson certainly enjoyed making movies, but he got a little revved up and was making a bit crazy about the whole thing. And he was going to bed very very late. Sydney coped well except for the 4 hours she was waiting for Jackson to get home from Lego camp. And then he ignored her so that he could make movies. Until he wanted to show off his creation to her and then he stalked her until she would comply. Oh and they bickered. A lot that week.

Week 3 we took the operation on the road and had sleepovers at Oma and Opa's in order to attend vacation bible school at their church. We had a very good week there. The change of scenery and interposition of grandparents served us all well. Curiously Jackson went to bed at 9 most nights. Very twilight zone.

Between weeks 3 and 4 we have the carnivore issue, which we are all trying to forget about.

Week 4 was science and music camp (just guess who went to which?) at a nearby university. This was a bit of a crazy week schedule wise, mostly because I was having a nutty week at work. Which makes me nutty. And we all know what happens when the mother ship goes nutty. Still they enjoyed and came home tired and I think gamely tolerated Mommy being a bit nutty (well, honestly they should be used to it).

This week is a break from camps. I think the kids needed the break, especially since last week was 7 hours days from them, plus the drive. Jackson is a little at loose ends which creates a tense dynamic. I was home with them on sick duty on Monday and then worked the next three days. I wasn't sure what to expect today, Friday, a Mommy day.

I called Husband at work at about 11:30 this morning crying uncle and begging him to let me Fed Ex just one of the kids to him to deal with for the rest of the day.

We all rallied on a fruitless trip to the mall for new school backpacks (I had a line on a good deal, but it didn't pan out.). The coolness of the mall and the exhaustion of traipsing around looking for the perfect backpack (a red one) bizarrely served us all well. We capped off the day with swimming at the pool before lessons and I abandoned the kids to the care of their father so I could recoup some of the sanity that I lost this morning.

That sanity was lost when Sydney was repeatedly whispering "zoom zoom zoom" into my ear and became exasperated that I did not know that in her brand new made up language that that means "I'm hungry". And Jackson was insistent that he be able to email the well-meaning folks at fruitloops.ca to tell them "your website sucks" because one of the links doesn't work.

Okay final grade: B+. I think that is fair but not overly generous (okay I am forgetting about the biting).

2 comments:

I am reading your summer posts rabidly - as I'm mostly regretting my decision to have the old fashioned lazy summer. We're all going a bit nuts here, and I think a C+ would be too generous for us at this point. Oh well, live and learn. My goal will be to make enough money this year to stuff them to the gills with activities next summer. Glad it is going mostly, er, swimmingly.. :)

Ellie as I posted on YOUR blog, old fashioned summer sounds very charming and I'm green with envy of anyone that can accomplish with any sense of enjoyment. That will never be us. I'm not sure we've hit the balance yet as this (a long weekend) has been L O N G.

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About Me

I am a fifty-ish church-going woman, Mom, wife, and part time lawyer who looks for balance but rarely finds it.
My weeks are a hectic mix of work, driving the kids to school and activities, doing laundry, running errands, stocking the kitchen with provisions, keeping up with my favourite TV shows and cheering the Vancouver Canucks to their first ever Stanley Cup.
I live in the 'burbs outside Vancouver, BC, Canada.